The Night Kenan Blacked Out, An Oral History

In the fall of 2008, after enduring three straight losing seasons, the North Carolina Tar Heels raced to a 4–1 start in Butch Davis’ second year at the helm, setting up a night game showdown with the #24 ranked UConn Huskies — a game that turned out to be one of the most unique Tar Heel football experiences in recent memory. What follows is a brief oral history of that game in the words of students, players and media who were in the stands, press box and on the field that night.

Bryan Ives: As a junior in the fall of 2008, I’m not sure anybody on campus looked forward to football Saturdays more than me. I had been going to Carolina football games my entire life and other than the late 90s under Mack Brown, there had never been as much buzz about Carolina football as there was entering the 2008 season. This buzz turned into a much louder roar the following offseason before shit hit the fan, but looking back, 2008 was the closest thing we got to seeing all of that defensive talent on the field together. We all know the names. Marvin Austin, Robert Quinn, Tydreke Powell, Cam Thomas, Aleric Mullins, Bruce Carter, Quan Sturdivant, Quinton Coples, Zach Brown, Deunta Williams, Kendric Burney, Da’Norris Searcy, Charles Brown. And Matt Merletti, of course. I mean, seriously? That’s a lot of NFL talent. How could you not be pumped up for that? Throw in Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks and I was lured into another season of high expectations for Carolina football.

John Tobben: 2008 was also my junior year at UNC, and I could only recall two positive Tar Heel football-related memories from my first two years in school — the dominance of Hakeem Nicks (who had singlehandedly annihilated my high school in the state semifinals my senior year) and Butch Davis signing the 2006 recruiting class highlighted by Marvin Austin and Greg Little. So despite the flashes of potential in Butch’s first year, I didn’t give much thought to football going into the season.

Andrew Batchelor : I was beginning my Senior year at UNC in Fall 2008. My class had just missed out on the thrills of the Miami upset and the TA McLendon game in Fall 2004 while still in high school, so my first three years in Chapel Hill didn’t have much excitement football-wise outside of hiring Butch. I grew up a Tar Heel fan during the Mack Brown days. My childhood bedroom was filled with team posters touting, what was at the time, one of the best defenses in the nation. In Fall 2008, it finally seemed like UNC was heading that direction again. Standing at 4–1 with a night game against a Top 25 opponent approaching, UNC was ready to make a statement: This team wasn’t one that would just randomly upset a Larry Coker coached team; this was a program that was about to announce its return to relevancy.

Turner Walston: That was my second year working with Tar Heel Monthly. The season had got off to a pretty good start. The Tar Heels had passed McNeese State in the opener, thanks mostly to Brandon Tate. The second game of the year was the coming out party. The navy jerseys debuted on a Thursday night in Piscataway, New Jersey, and Carolina absolutely crushed Rutgers. Kendric Burney, in particular, crushed Tiquan Underwood.

And then T.J. Yates broke his ankle against Virginia Tech. That was a blow that would impact the whole season. Despite losing their starting quarterback, Carolina had the ball down three late in that game with a chance to win, but Mike Paulus threw an interception. Even still, Carolina was 3–1 after Cameron Sexton eventually took over for Paulus and led the team to a late win at Miami. It was kind of nice to see Cam get another chance, after he’d rotated with Joe Dailey in ’06, and then Yates won the job outright in ‘07.

Tobben: At the time, after Yates went down against VT — a game that Carolina would have won if Yates didn’t get hurt — it seemed like our chance to field a team that could compete in the Coastal division had died. Cam Sexton came in got the win against Miami which had UNC sitting at 4–1 going into a night game against #24 ranked UConn. And look, I know UConn isn’t exactly Alabama or Auburn but a night game against a ranked opponent that UNC seemed to have a legitimate shot at winning was a big deal.

Matt Merletti graduated from UNC in 2010. He started at safety during his UNC career and was a sophomore and co-captain during the 2008 season.

Merletti: Going into the game, it would have been an understatement to say that we were beside ourselves excited. We were eager to not only prove ourselves to fans on a nationally televised stage, but also do it for us. The UNC Football program had experienced a lot of losing in the recent past and a lot of hard work had been put in to overcome that. The team identity was what changed the most in my opinion. We now had a hardworking and tough mentality, which was much different from the lazy and defiant one that I encountered upon arriving in Chapel Hill in the summer of 2007. The “bad eggs” had been weeded out and the indifferent players had been converted into players that were “all-in.”

Ives: This was one of the rare games during my time in Chapel Hill where we were actually afforded ample opportunity to properly prepare for the game beforehand. Yes, that is an alcohol reference. That obviously changes the atmosphere of a game, particularly from a students perspective. A noon start against Elon this was not.

Merletti: As if we needed any more motivation for this game, I recall a defensive meeting in the team hotel the night before. Our defensive coaching staff put up a quote from Donald Brown, arguably the nation’s best running back, on the projection screen that covered an entire wall. The quote said something along the lines of Brown guaranteeing a win and 300+ yards rushing on UNC’s unimpressive defense. Was the quote real? Probably not, but our coaches were leaving no stone left unturned in making sure we were ready for the big matchup.

Walston: In the last game of the 2007 season, Greg Little had rushed for a touchdown to beat Duke in overtime. So naturally, he was the tailback entering 2008. That didn’t last long, and a converted safety named Shaun Draughn started doing some nice things. I remember Draughn and Ryan Houston splitting carries after a Mark Paschal interception to put Carolina up 10–3.

Tobben: I have no idea what was said to Bruce Carter before the game, but whatever it was, it worked. The entire defense was impressive but Carter was in his own stratosphere. He recorded seven tackles, two tackles for losses, and blocked an absurd three punts — one of which Matt recovered for a touchdown. For all intents and purposes, that was the night the “BRUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCEE” cheer was born.

Walston: It wasn’t just three punts in the game. It was three punts in a row. Whatever punt protection UConn called, it wasn’t working. Whatever punt block Carolina called, it worked to perfection.

Merletti: I remember being ecstatic about Bruce blocking two punts in a row. I hadn’t gotten the chance to play defense, so I prided myself on the one aspect of the game I had a hand in — special teams.

I had a strange experience leading up to Bruce’s blocked punt in the endzone. I always paid attention to where we were on the field because it called for certain plays to be called on special teams, so I was excited to have UCONN in a “backed up” situation with them deep in their own territory. I began daydreaming on the sideline and thought of what it would be like if we, not Bruce, blocked another punt and I had a chance to get a touchdown. “Not Bruce” only because UCONN would surely be keying on him. Well, the unthinkable happened and Bruce blocked a third consecutive punt in the endzone. I was “holding up” my man on the punt team but had my eye on the punter. That “thud” sound when Bruce blocked that punt will forever be burned in my memory. I immediately shed the blocker and saw the ball bouncing in the endzone.

The celebration that ensued is still a blur to me and the only real memory I have of it is laying on my back at the bottom of a dog pile of my teammates and looking up at the sky laughing as the roar of the crowd pierced my ears. I couldn’t believe what happened and even though my teammates and I were screaming, I don’t think any real words were said.

Batchelor: To top it all off, this game included a Marvin Austin pick-6 that gave UNC a 31–6 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Kenan Stadium was turning into Club LIV and we all got the tenant rate.

Ives: This is when Marvin was king of Chapel Hill, mo-ped and all. His hilarious return, complete with numerous stumbles and actually throwing the ball in the air before he reached the end zone seemed to symbolize a night where nothing really looked pretty or went how it was supposed to, but the end result was perfect.

Ives: Throughout the game, I had to balance spending time with my parents, whose seats were overlooking the corner closest to the Carolina sideline, and soaking up the atmosphere a few yards away in the student section. I popped back and forth between seats, arriving at my parents seats each time with a new cup filled two-thirds with Diet Coke for me and my father. It was while sitting with them that everything went dark. Literally. That is not a metaphor.

Tobben: Here’s the thing, the power going out in the midst of a coming out party for UNC football should have been the ultimate #goACC moment. It would have been completely understandable if a 30 minute break in the action deflated the energy in the stadium, but instead, something happened that no one could have predicted — Kenan Stadium got absolutely turnt up.

Walston: I don’t know which came first; The Wave or ‘Kung Fu Fighting.’ I do know this: In 98 percent of circumstances, I hate The Wave. At the College World Series, where most of the fans are just happy to be there and don’t care who wins, The Wave can be great. Otherwise, I feel like if you’re watching The Wave go around a stadium, you’re not watching the game. Granted, sometimes the game is a lot less interesting than a rolling wave of people standing up and down.

But on that night, just after 9:00, with the weather perfect and the home team up in the third quarter, The Wave was beautiful. We all expected the lights to come back on soon, so no one left, really. Fifty-nine thousand people had nothing better to do. We even did that little ‘Wooooo’ that goes around the stadium with The Wave.

Tobben: By about the third time the wave made it to the Tar Pit (where I was sitting), I knew something strange was going on. 99% of the time, the wave makes one lap around a stadium and then two thirds of the crowd promptly loses interest. But that night everyone was not only engaged, they actively were anticipating the wave making its way back to their section.

Ives: It probably took two or three times for me to even notice the wave because I was pitching a hissy fit about how the lights going out would ruin our momentum and all hope was lost. I mean, this blackout could very well derail our national championship hopes! Not to mention Hakeem Nicks’ Heisman campaign.

Walston: And then when it finally died down … I don’t know who in the PA booth decided to go with ‘Kung Fu Fighting,’ but it was the exact right song for the exact right time. As soon as that ‘Oh whoa whoa whoa’ rang out, we all had an understanding. “Oh, I guess we’re Kung Fu fighters now.”

Batchelor: It’s hard to describe the reaction to Carl Douglas’ opening “Oh whoa whoa whoaaa” in Kenan Stadium that night. The closest equivalent would be the lights going out and The Rock being announced as the surprise guest host of Wrestlemania. People freaked out. I still don’t understand why but it was absolutely amazing. The student section instantly transformed into the largest kung-fu dojo in college football history.

Tobben: Admittedly after a couple beers it doesn’t take much to get me to dance like an idiot, but literally everybody was Kung Fu Fighting. Thousands of imaginary evil ninjas died that night in Kenan Stadium.

Merletti: It’s funny for me to hear the thoughts and memories from others who were at the game and had a different vantage point than the players. For me, right when the lights went out, I was annoyed more than anything thinking, “C’mon, not again.” If you remember, during the first week of the season, there was an hour and half weather delay, and we almost lost to McNeese State. So, being that the close win was still fairly fresh in our minds, we were adamant about remaining focused on the task at hand. The coaches made sure that we were all on the same page and used the familiar, but unusual break in play to our advantage by coaching us up. We went over schemes and plays that UCONN was running and also over things we needed to execute better.

With all of that being said, players are still human too. I distinctly remember it being very difficult to focus on what the coaches were saying with the crowd, mostly the student section, having a party in the stands. While we knew we had more work to do, I couldn’t help but smirk and hold back a laugh at some of the Kung-Fu fighters in the stands.

Walston: Because so much excitement happened before and during the blackout, I don’t remember a lot from afterward. Except, there was still a bank of lights in the northeast corner of the stadium that wasn’t back on by the time play continued. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Hakeem Nicks caught a touchdown pass in the dark corner of the end zone. When the clock read 00:00 the final score was North Carolina 38, Connecticut 12.

Tobben: There have been more exciting UNC football games in the past several years (UNC-NC State in 2012) and there have been bigger wins (Carolina followed up the UConn win by beating Notre Dame the following week) but what stands out about that UConn game was the unbridled enthusiasm of the Carolina fanbase in attendance. Kenan was electric that night and the on-field action reflected it.

UNC’s struggles on the gridiron have led some to question why Tar Heel football fans have such high expectations for the program in the first place. But looking back, that UConn game may provide the answer. In between the cheers of “BRUUUCCEEEE” and the karate chops Carolina fans witnessed something that had been yearned for since Mack Brown left and is now yearned for again. We saw a team loaded with NFL talent take it to a ranked opponent in prime time. We saw a Tar Heel football team we could all legitimately get excited for.

Originally published at raleighco.com on October 9, 2014.